Astronomy Midterm
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25 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 True or False: Parallax is the apparent change in location of an object due to the motion of the observer | TRUE |
| The Almagest is: | a collection of the science and mathematics of the Greeks |
| A(n) _________ is a circle whose center is located in the center of another circle. | epicycle |
| Ptolemy's model of the Universe | contained epicycles |
| ____ introduced the concept of the eccentrics and epicycle to planetary motion about Earth, created a star catalog, and is generally credited with the development of trigonometry. | Hipparchus |
| Which of the following people did not accept a heliocentric model of the universe? | Tycho |
| The book "De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium" | first described the Copernican theory. |
| The Ptolemaic model of the universe was heliocentric. | FALSE |
| The Copernican system was no more accurate than the Ptolemaic system in predicting the positions of the planets because | the Copernican system included uniform circular motion. |
| Brahe's universe was the same as the Copernican universe except that | Earth did not move |
| Tycho Brahe's greatest contribution to astronomy was | his years of careful observations of the planets. |
| A ____ is a commonly accepted set of scientific ideas and assumptions. | paradigm |
| Galileo's observations of the gibbous phase of Venus proved | that Venus orbits the sun. |
| Galileo's telescopic discoveries of mountains on the moon and spots on the sun were controversial because they suggested that the sun and moon | are not perfect. |
| Galileo's telescopic discovery of moons orbiting Jupiter was important because it showed that | The universe could contain centers of motion other than Earth. And Earth might move along an orbit and not leave the moon behind. |
| A ____ is a system of rules and principles that can be applied to a wide variety of circumstances but may not be universally accepted. | theory |
| Which of the following was not based on uniform circular motion? | Rudolphine Tables |
| Halley's Comet has an orbital period of 76 years. What is the average distance of Halley's Comet from the sun? | 18 AU |
| In pre-Copernican astronomy, it was almost universally believed that | the Earth was at the center of the universe. |
| An apparent westward motion of a planet in the sky compared to the background stars (as viewed from the Earth) when observed on successive nights is referred to as | retrograde motion |
| Galileo wrote the Almagest. | FALSE |
| The purpose of using epicycles and deferents to explain the motion of the planets in the night sky was to account for | retrograde motion. |
| Which of the following objects cannot transit (i.e. pass in front of) the Sun as seen from Jupiter? | Saturn |
| he greatest inaccuracy in Copernicus' model of the solar system was that the planets | traveled in circular orbits with uniform motion. |
| Which of the following planets can be seen as a crescent phase from Earth? | Mercury and Venus |
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